Rivera, 40, of North Augusta, S.C., said that given the chance, he would likely kill again.

''I still fantasize about hurting the same girls that I killed,'' he testified.

Defense attorneys tried to talk Rivera out of requesting the death penalty Saturday, calling six witnesses to the stand to ask the jury for other options of life in prison with or without parole.

Rivera's sister, Gloria Rivera, testified that she found it impossible to believe the child she grew up with and man who would read bedtime stories for his own children was capable of such acts.

''There's no way he's evil; he has to be sick,'' she said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors called three witnesses to advocate the death penalty, including Glista's mother Gloria Perius.

''I gave birth to Marni, and I sat by her side when she drew her last breath,'' Perius said.

Time will never erase the pain her family endured as they maintained a vigil by her daughter's hospital bed before doctors disconnected the life support and Glista died on Sept. 9, 2000, she said.

Regardless of the sentence in the Glista case, District Attorney Danny Craig has said he likely will pursue capital murder charges in Columbia County, where another of Rivera's alleged victims, 18-year-old Tabitha Bosdell, was found.

Rivera also is accused in the 1999 slayings of Melissa Dingess and Tiffaney Wilson, both 17, in Aiken County, S.C.